The Butterfly Effect

It's Time To Wake Up

The classroom today was oddly gray, it felt as if a black cloud floated above the entire classroom. Today Mrs. Meyers was giving a lecture about...well actually I'm not sure. It was weird, I could hear her talking but I couldn't make out any of the words. I began to strain to hear her when a familiar buzz shook the table. I'm usually not a big fan of texting during class but when my phone buzzed during the lecture I was more than ready to cut the thick slice of tension between my lab partner and I. We hadn't spoken since the whole falling out in class last week and nothing had changed. As I unlocked my phone I couldn't help but smile. It was Derrick. I hadn't spoken to him since the mall trip and the thought of me going on a date with him felt oddly comfortable and familiar. His text said he wanted to show me something near the mall and he was waiting outside for me. I was careful not to think about my date as I was sure Damien would be peeking inside my head. But after I sent my text to Derrick agreeing to meet him after school I swear I heard Damien growl.

I could feel him staring daggers at me but he didn't say a word until right before the school bell rang. "Sriyah don't go."

"Now he speaks." I shot him my best death stare, packed up my belongings and shuffled my way through the scrambling students.

I almost made it to my car when I felt an arm prevent me from opening the door. "Please, just listen to me." It was Damien."You don't know Derrick. He's not who you think he is." I had trusted Damien and even though he broke that trust his pleading was pulling at my heartstrings.

"Well at least he won't lie to me-" To prevent him from winning I had to think of the one thing that was fueling my anger at Damien in the first place.

"But-"

"Or invade my privacy. I'm going Damien, and there's nothing you can do to stop me." I pulled my arm away and manged to throw my books in the backseat, I almost made it to the driver's seat when he stopped me again.

"I wanna be with you." Damien started without hesitation. If he was nervous it definitely didn't show in his voice. It didn't sound like he was blurting the statement because he had no choice, but because I was foolish to not have realized that fact already.

"You belong with me." Derrick appeared out of nowhere.

Whoa didn't see that coming. "That's not fair guys."

"I couldn't explain it to you, but now-" Damien was pleading now.

"Now that she's about to find out the truth, you think you can just-" Derrick continued to argue with Damien.

I've never had two guys fight over me before, I wasn't sure what to do. It definitely wasn't like anything I'd expected, it was a lot more nerve-wracking and stressful. For what ever reason I had a strong connection with both of these guys, even though I had only known Derrick for like a week, or so I thought.

"Sriyah it's not like that, please just let me explain."

"I would've never lied to you to begin with. I would've never forced this on you, or let you go along with-

"It's what she wanted Derrick and you know that!"

"But was this what was best for Sriyah?"

"Sriyah."

Sriyah."

Both guys started shouting my name simultaneously as I began to float away; Their voices going up an octave with each shout.

"Sriyah wake up!"

I snapped back to reality and sprang forward from my pillow. Finally I thought, an actual dream, but it wasn't a dream dream. It was more of short story inspired by true events, well that's what it seemed like. I started to recall the events of the dream when--

"Earth to Sriyah..." It was Sirissac playing the role of my alarm clock. "This was at the front door for you, who's D? Is this from Damien?" He said while shoving an elegant piece of stationary and a dark red rose at me, giving me a worried look.

"Space and time to breath please, or did you just forget that you've awaken the dead?" It was too early to try to put together pieces of a puzzle. Who would send me a flower?

"It's almost noon and Arionna's already down stairs."

"What?!" I tossed the card and flower aside, jumped out of bed and headed toward my bathroom. Sirissac surprisingly followed me, with the card in hand.

"Aren't you even going to read it?" He said thrusting it forward.

"Read it for me please." I asked while grabbing my toothbrush and nodding toward the letter.

'Sriyah, I found a little bakery similar to petite papillon. I wanted to text you the address but I thought the formality-

I stopped Sirissac mid sentence and grabbed the letter from his view, hoping he hadn't skimmed through it yet. The letter was from Derrick.

"So is it from Damien?" He asked with one eyebrow raised.

"Yes, he's just courting me and stuff." I lied. "Now can you go downstairs and tell Ari I'll be down there soon?"

"I hope you know you're still a terrible liar." He said after giving me a disapproving look and heading out the room.

I should really work on my lying skills, but first I had to finish the letter.

'But I thought the formality of the letter felt more appropriate. I hope I'm not being to forward, but I would love to have lunch with you late this afternoon. I have attached the address to the letter and if you would like to accompany me I'll be waiting for you at the bakery at 3pm.
Sincerely,
Your friend

I turned the letter to the front to see that 'to Sriyah, from D' was written on it. So that's where Sirissac got "D" from. Well if he would've read the entire letter he would have known that it was definitely not from Damien.

After I got out of the shower and got dressed I realized I really wanted to go to the bakery. Not only was I excited to taste the treats but I was eager to see Derrick again. There was something classic about him that I liked. And how cute was it that he courting to me. Courting? A little weird now that I think about it. After my eavesdropping session and my recent flashbacks, I was hoping another encounter would trigger another memory. So this date was just what I needed. As I finished styling my hair I froze when I heard my name.

"Sri?" It was Arionna coming down the hall.

Crap, I forgot to tell her all about Derrick. But I couldn't just tell her about the mall encounter, could I? No I couldn't. I'd have to tell her about the flashbacks and the most recent dream. But even as I thought about it, everything didn't make sense. It all didn't add up.

"Ugh," I groaned my most dramatic grunt. "When did my life become so complicated?"